Redskins' Grossman shines again on North Florida stage

Former Gators QB is 4-0 at EverBank

Rex Grossman has an inconsistent NFL career. But there's one place where he's always comfortable: on the North bank of the St. Johns River.

Grossman is now 4-0 at EverBank Field as a starting quarterback. He was 3-0 with the University of Florida over Georgia in the annual game in Jacksonville, and he won his first professional start there Sunday as the Washington Redskins defeated the Jaguars 20-17 in overtime.

Grossman didn't forget his UF roots, either. After the Redskins took a 10-0 lead on his 1-yard touchdown flip to tight end Fred Davis in the first quarter, Grossman celebrated with a few Gator "chomps."

"I knew there would be a lot of Gator fans here and I wanted to say 'hello,' " Grossman said. "I've got a lot of great memories in this stadium."

Grossman, who was elevated as the Redskins starter over Donovan McNabb against the Dallas Cowboys last week (Washington lost 33-30), completed 19-of-39 passes for 182 yards. More importantly, he avoided the crucial mistakes in tight games that have marked his career both with the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans.

Grossman threw one interception late in the second quarter in the Jaguars' end zone by Derek Cox. Washington coach Mike Shanahan tossed the challenge flag, and while it appeared Cox might not have had his feet inbounds, the ruling on the field was confirmed. That forced the Redskins to settle for a 10-7 lead after they had a first down on the Jaguars' 17 the play before the interception.

Grossman didn't come close to another pick, and was sacked only once. His statistics weren't glittering but on a scoring drive late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, he converted two third-down situations with pass completions of 12 and 14 yards to Santana Moss and completed 3-of-4 passes for 34 yards.

Grossman said he could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Moss drawing single coverage. But there he was, open on third-and-11 and third-and-three.

Grossman almost got it done in regulation, completing three passes to get the Redskins to midfield in the final minute. But he took his only sack of the game on third-and-10 with 40 seconds left and the Redskins played for overtime with a fourth-down punt.

After Kevin Barnes intercepted David Garrard in overtime, Grossman handed off twice to Ryan Torain before the coaching staff decided to let Graham Gano attempt the game-winning field goal on third down.

Shanahan has been pounded by critics all season for his handling of the Redskins' quarterback situation, and he opened the door for criticism again by making McNabb inactive, but listed as the third quarterback. That elevated John Beck to second team behind Grossman.

Shanahan kept his thoughts of Grossman's performance to himself.

"The main thing is we won the game," Shanahan said. "That's what we'll do over the next 24-to-48 hours ... critique everyone, not just the quarterback position. I was happy, obviously, with the win."